Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking”, is a process in which a wellbore is pressurized to fracture hydrocarbon bearing geologic formations. Pressurization is typically incremented sequentially in discrete zones along the wellbore. Following the fracturing process, the pressure containment apparatus within each zone must be unsealed so as to allow flowback of the released hydrocarbons back through the wellbore.
Processes applied to achieve the depressurization and allow flowback often required that the containment apparatus be drilled out, or otherwise mechanically removed, which is cumbersome and expensive.